Verizon CFO: Tiered Data Plans Coming “Mid-summer”

As you may recall, VZW started answering questions about tiers in the summer of 2010 and even introduced a short-lived $15 version last October that is now gone thanks in part to the i*hone’s launch. Before you get too thankful of Apple’s baby though, know that it will also be the reason we see much more permanent tiers some time this summer, according to Big Red’s CFO who just got done speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom conference. This news shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but we wanted to point it out as this is the first time we’ve seen a Verizon exec pin point an actual time frame for deployment.

There wasn’t a mention of pricing, and we wouldn’t expect one this far out from launch, but that shouldn’t stop us from wondering how their 4G LTE and 3G plans could differ. We’ve received word from multiple sources that when the Thunderbolt finally launches, that it will fall in at the $29.99 unlimited plan currently offered to all 3G smartphones. Who knows how long that will last though. And if that does happen, this might be one of the only times we’ll actually recommend you sign a 2-year contract to keep from paying out the derrière this summer.